


After

by layna_lass



Category: the lunar chronicles
Genre: Continuation, F/M, Fluff, Future, Headcanon, Kids, Romance
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-08-01
Updated: 2017-06-17
Packaged: 2018-07-28 13:39:11
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 2,912
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7642771
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/layna_lass/pseuds/layna_lass
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Levana is dead...</p><p>Cinder is queen...</p><p>Peace returns to earth...</p><p>But what happens next?</p><p>~</p><p>Twenty-five years after the defeat of Levana, a new generation is being groomed. Riken, Gemini, Caeli, and Tao are the princes and princesses of the Commonwealth. Sahara, North, and Cassiopeia Thorne have six different homes and never stay in one for more than a few months. Ze'ev, Kat, and Michael Kesley are farm kids who wouldn't know what to do with a crown if it came with a label. And Fletcher Cley is so sick of winning "Hottest Man of the Year". </p><p>Through holiday parties, ballet recitals, summer vacations, and birthdays, these kids were raised together. But as they grow older, they find that the trials of adulthood test even the strongest friendships.</p><p> And they are never without enemies....</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

Prince Riken Archer (Rike)

(23)

Princess Gemini Fae (Gem, Fae)

18

Prince Tao Seong

(14)

Princess Caeli Synn

(9)

Sahara Sage Thorne

(22)

North Rampion Thorne

(21)

Cassiopeia Itri Thorne (Cass, Cassi)

(18)

Ze'ev Olivier Kesley (Zev)

(24)

Kat Andromeda Kesley

(19)

Michael Solanum Kesley (Tommy, Tom)

(15)

Fletcher Perseus Cley (Fletch)

(22)

Lady Saina Este Nashali 

(22)

Lord Raj Aadit Nashani

(20)

Prince Noah Parker 

(26)

 

**Disclaimer: I own nothing! The amazing people mentioned in this story belong to the one and only Marissa Meyer, as does the world and any references to the adventures of the crew of the Rampion. I just made up the kids XP**


	2. Chapter 2

"Here's your son."

The words seemed so simple. So casual. So mundane.

But they were earth-shattering.

As Wolf held his son, his son, in his arms, the entire universe seemed to shift. Ze'ev Olivier Kesley blinked enormous, coffee brown eyes at him, and planets and constellations rearranged themselves. The baby was unbelievably light, and yet Wolf's arms trembled with the weight of what he was holding. His future. His world. His family. 

On the hospital bed, his wife watched him with a tired smile. Her hair clung in sweaty clumps to her forehead and cheeks, her breaths coming in weary gasps, but she still looked strong. 

"He's incredible, isn't he?" she murmured.

Wolf couldn't answer, lost for words. He simply laced his fingers through hers, heart filled with so much joy he felt he would burst. 

"Scarlet?"

Scarlet turned her attention to the beautiful girl that hovered near the bed, beaming at her.

"You did a wonderful job," Winter cooed, stroking her friend's snarled hair. "I will go tell the others. They will want to see you, but I will tell them you need your space."

"No." Scarlet, with some effort, pushed herself more upright. "I want to see them." 

Wolf frowned in concern, but she shushed his protests. "I'm perfectly fine. The labor was barely three hours, I'm lucky."

Winter looked to him for confirmation, and he reluctantly nodded. Kissing Scarlet's brow, Winter slipped away and cracked open the door. 

"Shhhhhhhhhh!" Scarlet could hear her whisper to the crowd waiting outside. "They're both fine, but she's very tired."

"Can we see him?" Cinder asked eagerly.

"That's not a good idea," came Jacin's disapproving voice. "She'll need her rest, and newborns are very fragile."

"Scarlet says you can come in," Winter told him. 

An excited cacophony of voices flooded up at this, but Jacin shushed them all. 

"Quiet! We need to be mindful of the delicacy of the situation. At this stage of infancy, it is vital that the child be handled with the utmost-"

"It's a baby, not a glass doll," Thorne drawled. "Stop being such a nerd and let us in, Dr. Paranoia."

Despite Jacin's huffing and grumbling, the crowd filed in one by one. Cinder, Kai, Thorne, Cress, Jacin, Iko, and at last even Torin crammed into the small hospital room. Kai had, of course, offered the finest medical care the Commonwealth Palace had to offer, but though Wolf had urged Scarlet to accept, she refused to give birth anywhere but Rieux. 

Now, bearing gifts and words of praise, they surrounded Scarlet and Wolf, all eager for a glance at tiny Ze'ev.

"He's perfect," Cress sighed, stroking the blanket he was cocooned in. 

"So Wolf, how'd you talk Scarlet into naming the little munchkin after you?" Thorne teased, elbowing his friend.

Wolf's ears turned pink, but before he could explain, Cinder smacked Thorne's shoulder.

"He's just joking," she assured Wolf. "We all know it was Scarlet's idea."

Scarlet gently extricated the baby from her husband's large hands and handed him to Winter, who took him as if he were, in fact, made of glass.

"It's so strange," Kai wondered, his arm around Cinder's shoulder. "Our first baby."

Scarlet lifted an eyebrow. "I don't recall you enduring nine months of pregnancy or three hours of labor."

"I meant the first in our group," he laughed. "It feels momentous."

"Hopefully many more to come." Scarlet eyed Cinder's stomach pointedly, though, only one month in, there was no difference yet in her slim figure. 

Cinder, oblivious, was watching Winter cradle the newobrn, a far-off look in her eyes.

"Can you imagine it?" she murmured. "All of us with kids?"

"They'll play with each other all the time," Cress said eagerly. "We'll get together for every birthday and party, and of course the ball every year-"

"Maybe some of them will fall in love," Winter added dreamily.

Jacin scowled at that, as if he could already imagine Ze'ev grown up and threatening his future hypothetical daughter's heart. 

Kai stroked the end of Cinder's ponytail. "By the time we have love to worry about, we'll be getting old and grey and fat."

"Speak for yourself," Thorne snorted. "I'll shoot myself before getting fat."

Their laughter echoed off the walls of the hospital room.


	3. Chapter 3

Fae was fidgeting. And Rikan could tell.

She tried to keep still. She hated looking rumpled. But thirty seconds of being cool and collected and her fingers would start to twitch, her toes would ache to wiggle, and her nose got impossibly itchy.

"Looking forward to seeing anyone?" Rikan asked under his breath.

She shot him a look that reminded him he'd practically dragged her out of bed at six in the morning yesterday when Saina arrived, and she wouldn't be taking any guff.

Mom frowned, and Fae got the feeling she was checking her internal clock. "What's taking them so long? I thought they stopped letting Thorne fly here when he landed in the koi pond."

Rikan, Tao, and Dad chuckled in unison at the memory. Fae was too impatient to be amused.

The four of them stood on the edge of the Palace's landing strip, where they'd been waiting for at least half an hour. Behind, Caeli played in the garden, having grown bored long ago. Fae could already see the streaks of dirt marring her pretty, flower-patterned dress. They'd have to have another talk about that.

Crossing her arms, Fae glared up at the sky. She could not be patient forever! She had a million things planned to do with Cass, and she was melting in her floor-length gown because _stars_ it was hot out here.

"I'm going to com them again," Mom decided. But at that moment, a glint caught Fae's eye, and by the time Rikan saw and gave a whoop of excitement, it had turned into the all-too-familiar shape of the Rampion.

She clasped her hands behind her back and tried to look as if she was not bouncing on her toes. She hoped she wasn't sweaty. She'd looked gorgeous when she'd come out here, but now her face seemed to radiate heat, and her dark hair was like a blanket coiled around her head. She hadn't seen the Thornes since last month for Fletcher's birthday, and she knew all too well how easily the Thorne girls could outshine her.

Dad laid a hand on Mom's shoulder. "Are they supposed to be coming in so fast?"

Mom's eyes widened, and with a word the guards flanking her were racing towards the garden to pluck Caeli out of harm's way.

"If he kills another one of the trees," Mom growled, "I'm having him arrested."

But though Uncle Thorne's piloting had become a source of frequent jokes among the family, and he really did have unfortunate taste in landing spots, Fae could tell that the pilot was too inexperienced to be Carswell. The ship was wobbling like a top ready to fall, which meant it was most likely Sahara flying it. Stars know how many pulled strings it took to get her her pilot's license.

They wisely took a few steps back as the Rampion landed hard, sending sparks flying up from the strip, and skidding into the edge of the garden. Luckily, Sahara narrowly avoided imprisonment.

As the ship powered down, a boarding ramp extended, and a familiar, tiny blonde figure appeared. Fae grinned genuinely for the first time that morning as her best friend let out a squeal of excitement and bounded towards her.

"Gem oh my gosh oh my gosh oh my gooooooooooosh!" Cass reached up on tiptoe to throw her short arms around Fae's significantly taller 5' 8" frame. Fae decided to momentarily disregard the fact that she found public displays of affection unstately and squeezed her back. Cass was, of course, already spewing a steady torrent of conversation.

" _Aces_ did you see the way we came in? I was waiting in the loading bay and I was _sure_ Sahara was going to kill us all, I begged Dad not to let her fly but you just _know_ she's his favorite- we almost hit several mountains on the way here, I've been composing my will for the past hour and a half! Uncle Kai!"

Without taking a breath Cass moved on to Dad, still talking non-stop. Fae tuned her out.

Mom was walking towards the ramp, where Aunt Cress and North were descending. Aunt Cress, from whom Cass got her small stature, looked almost like a child next to her tall son. But she was as pretty as ever, in the girlish way of hers that didn't quite realize she was going on forty two years old.

And then there was North.

Fae tried not to wrinkle her nose at the sight of her least favorite "cousin". He did not return the favor.

"Oh my goodness Gem, you look so beautiful! Have you gotten even taller?" Aunt Cress gave her a powerful hug, and Fae wondered if she knew that it was the same thing she said every time they saw each other.

"I think you're the one who's getting taller, Aunt Cress. You come all the way up to my shoulder," Fae teased, ignoring North.

Aunt Cress beamed and whispered, "It's heels." Then she and Mom were exchanging greetings, and there was an awkward moment where Fae could not feasibly deny North's presence.

"North," she greeted unenthusiastically.

"Gemini," he responded flatly.

But before she had to rack her brain for a topic of conversation, long tan legs were appearing in the doorway and Sahara was saying, "Aces Aunt Cinder I'm so sorry about the landing," and behind her...

"Helloooooooo gorgeous!"

Fae didn't bother to hide her laugh as Uncle Thorne swept her into a hug that took her feet off the ground. When he set her back down, he was grinning his roguish grin that took twenty years off his face and saying, "Let me look at you. I swear you get prettier every time I see you. You're just like your mom that way." He winked at her.

Mom rolled her eyes, but she was smiling.

"Your Robotic Royalness," he intoned, bowing.

Mom smirked. "Is that more gray in your hair?"

"Ha! You know very well I haven't aged a day over thirty. Now come give your favorite captain a hug." He swept her up in an embrace, and despite the teasing and threats of arrest, Mom looked more genuinely happy than Fae had seen her in days.

She glanced back. Cass had moved on to Caeli, who was overjoyed at the attention, and Rikan was giving Sahara a look that his girlfriend would not have appreciated.

"Well if it isn't tall, dark, and handsome himself," Sahara purred, giving him a big hug and kiss on the cheek. "Have you missed me?"

"Oh, terribly," he told her wryly. "None of my pilots are nearly as much fun as you."

She patted his cheek. "I know, darling. Say, where's your pretty girlfriend?"

"Sleeping. There's a bit of a time difference."

Her cerulean eyes sparkled. "What. A. Shame."

"Can you stop flirting for two seconds together?" North demanded, startling Fae.

Sahara tossed her blonde hair. "Nope. It's in the genes. You know, the _exciting_ and _attractive_ ones you missed out on."

Unperturbed, North flashed her a dimpled grin that was far too much like his father's to be anywhere near unattractive. Fae left their sibling rivalry behind and looped her arm through Cass's, stealing her away from Caeli's fascinating story about the frog she'd found beneath a rock that morning. Gross.

"Come on, I've planned the whole day for us!" Fae told her, walking back towards the Palace.

Cass gasped. "Does it involve dresses for the ball?"

"How could it not?"


	4. Chapter 4

There were billions of stars. They dotted the sea of space like so many gems, brilliant and cold in their beauty. The whole sight, of the galaxy and planets and the hinted glow of the sun, was breathtaking.

And Kat was bored to tears.

She'd been staring out this window for three hours. The day before, she'd spent almost twice that long- with her boots propped on the seat opposite, her hands behind her head, and her eyes glazing over. 

"Mom," she said to the pilot, "why did you volunteer us to get the Cleys again?"

Mom snorted. "Because Sahara's flying the Thornes, and I'd like to avoid interplanetary war due to the death of Luna's favorite ambassador."

Kat slumped, sliding down her seat and onto the floor. "But it takes so looooooooooooooooong."

"Go do something with your brothers," Mom suggested. 

Kat gave her a dead-eyed stare, and then yelled, "Tommy!"

"What?" her brother yelled back.

"Come play Royals with me!"

"No!"

"Why not?"

"Because you cheat!"

She grinned. "I won't cheat this time."

"Yeah right!"

Kat gave her mother a pointed look. "See? They're useless."

Mom rolled her eyes and patted Kat's knee. "You do cheat." 

Dad chose that moment to walk into the cockpit, stooping to fit under the slightly lower-than-average entry. "Who cheats?"

"Your daughter," Mom replied with a teasing wink at Kat. "The boys won't play Royals with her anymore."

"Ah." Dad smiled knowingly. "That's why she's been staring out the window."

"Well if they'd just man up and figure out how to beat me, I wouldn't be dying of boredom!" Kat snapped, throwing her hands in the air. 

"You could pilot the plane for a while," Mom offered.

Kat's head lolled back. "I think I'll pass."

"Frankly, I don't care what you do, as long as you don't do it in here." Mom made a shooing gesture. "You haven't been in this bad of a mood since the last time we came to Luna."

Kat complied with a slight growl, and pretended not to be mollified when Dad planted a kiss on her head as she passed him. Space always made her stir-crazy. She couldn't see what was supposed to be so great about it. And why was everyone going mad over piloting anyways? You just sat there and pushed buttons for an hour. Winding yarn was more thrilling. 

She collapsed on her bunk, staring up at the tree branches she'd painted on the ceiling ages ago. If she blurred her eyes, she could pretend she was back home, and those were actual leaves rather than paint #003300. 

She'd fall asleep eventually. She usually did.

__________________________

"Guess who."

Awoken by the voice and the hands clapped over her eyes, Kat locked her grip around the hand in question and yanked. A loud bump was heard, followed by a hiss of pain. 

Kat did not enjoy surprises. 

Fletcher knew this. 

Fletcher obviously didn't care.

That was not a smart choice on Fletcher's part.

"Spades, Kat! I think you broke my nose!"

Grinning, Kat opened her eyes and swung her legs over the side of her bed. Fletcher stood to her right, face scrunched up against the bed post, eyes watering. 

"I told you that wasn't a good idea," Uncle Jacin called from the hallway.

"Your son doesn't listen very well," Kat called back.

"I told him that too."

Smirking, Kat looked Fletch- who was gingerly prodding his nose and making various injured sounds- up and down. His coffee-colored skin was set off by black pants and a dark red button-up shirt, with a plain black stud in his ear ruining the neat and tidy effect. He hadn't really changed since the last time she'd seen him, still drop-dead gorgeous and adorable to boot. 

"Ow ow ow owwwww," he complained.

"Oh, poor baby," she cooed. "Does it hurt?"

"Only a lot." He grunted. "You must have really missed me."

He was technically her best friend, so yes, one could say that Kat had missed him. One could also note that his ego needed no inflating, and if it had, she would definitely not be the best candidate.

"You smell like space," she informed him.

"You're so cute when you pretend you don't love me." He smoothed down her bedhead, flashing a heart-stoppingly playful smile. Sometimes he looked a bit too much like his mom. 

She batted her eyelashes and scooted a little closer to him. "Fletch?"

"Mm-hmm?" His flawless black eyes glittered at her.

"Do I cheat at Royals?" 

"Unquestionably."

"And how do you know this?"

"Because you're completely transparent and couldn't tell a convincing lie to save your life." The second the words came out, he realized she'd got him, and his flirtatious smile turned into a glower. 

Kat patted his cheek. "Exactly. Now are you going to keep acting like a rooster during mating season, or could we actually try and have some fun?"

"Fun, with you? Yeah right!"

He was running from the room before the words had even left his mouth, followed closely by Kat's pillow.


End file.
